SunSirs: China's Shipbuilders Secure 1,421 New Ship Orders in 2025, Maintaining Global Leadership in Order Volume

The global new shipbuilding market cooled significantly in 2025 amid a high-level pullback. China's shipbuilding industry withstood external non-market factors such as the U.S. Section 301 policy, maintaining its position as the world's largest in terms of order volume. However, its market share experienced its first decline in the past five years.

According to Clarkson data released on January 7, global new ship orders for 2025 totaled 2,036 vessels at 56.43 million Compensated Gross Tonnage (CGT), marking a 27% decline from 2024's 76.78 million CGT. Chinese shipyards secured 1,421 vessels totaling 35.37 million CGT, a 35% year-on-year decrease, maintaining a 63% market share to rank first globally. South Korean shipyards secured 247 vessels totaling 11.60 million CGT, an 8% year-on-year increase, securing a 21% market share to rank second.

In December 2024, global new ship orders totaled 264 vessels with 8.09 million CGT. This represented a 69% increase in CGT compared to the 4.79 million CGT recorded in the same month of 2023, and a 23% increase from the 6.59 million CGT in November 2024. Among these, Chinese shipyards secured 223 new orders totaling 5.71 million CGT, capturing 71% of the global market share to lead the rankings. South Korean shipyards secured 23 orders totaling 1.47 million CGT, capturing 18% of the global market share to rank second.

South Korean industry sources noted that while South Korean shipyards still lagged far behind China in the number of orders secured in 2025, South Korea's average CGT per vessel was 47,000 CGT compared to China's 25,000 CGT—nearly double that of China. This disparity stems from South Korean shipyards maintaining their focus on securing orders for high-value-added vessel types.

In 2025, China's shipbuilders saw a 35% year-on-year decline in orders, while South Korea's shipbuilders recorded an 8% year-on-year increase in orders. This marked a key moment for South Korea's shipbuilding industry to narrow the market share gap with China after five years.

Notably, this marks the first decline in China's market share over the past five years and the first narrowing of the gap between the two nations. In 2021, China held 51% of the global shipbuilding market share, while South Korea held 32%. In 2022, China's global market share stood at 52%, with South Korea at 32%. In 2023, China's global market share rose to 60% while South Korea's fell to 20%. By 2024, China's share climbed further to 71%, while South Korea's dropped to 14%. The gap between their market shares widened from 19 percentage points to 57 percentage points over four years, demonstrating a trend of increasing disparity.

Clarkson noted that the international landscape in 2025 posed even greater challenges for China's shipbuilding industry. U.S. policies targeted Chinese-built vessels and shipbuilding activities, subjecting Chinese shipbuilders to unprecedented external non-market pressures.

By vessel type, China continued expanding its lead in bulk carrier construction, with order intake share exceeding 80% for the first time; Container ships, both feeder vessels and large-capacity types, saw robust order intake, securing 68% of global container ship orders for the year. Oil tanker orders benefited from China's national strength and flexible shipbuilding capacity, culminating in bulk orders by year-end that propelled China past South Korea in global tanker order intake. Liquefied gas carrier orders experienced a timing adjustment, with orders shifting to South Korea—which could offer earlier delivery dates—as China's major shipyards faced full order books and tight shipyard capacity. As a gas carrier segment characterized by high construction complexity and relatively small vessel size, shifting LPG carrier capacity to small and medium-sized enterprises remains challenging. However, it should also be noted that under the influence of the U.S. Section 301 policy, shifts in some shipowners' positions led to orders flowing to overseas shipyards. Within the broader context of overall order recovery, this had a limited impact on China's market share.

It is understood that in April 2024, prompted by petitions from five U.S. labor unions, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) initiated a Section 301 investigation into China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. In February 2025, the USTR released a draft of Section 301 provisions targeting China's shipping, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. This significantly impacted the newbuilding market. In March, South Korean shipyards temporarily secured 55% of global orders to rank first, while Chinese shipyards' market share dropped to just 35% that month.

Following the USTR's announcement in April 2025 of a revised final port fee collection plan—which eased charges on vessels built in China or newbuilds owned by non-Chinese companies—shipowners began returning to Chinese shipyards for orders. In April, Chinese shipbuilders secured nearly 70% of global new ship orders, maintaining the top position in monthly order intake ever since.

Following the agreement reached in late October last year between China and the United States to suspend the imposition of port fees and reciprocal tariffs for one year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced on November 9 that it would suspend the implementation of its Section 301 investigation measures targeting China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries for one year, effective November 10. China also decided to suspend the collection of special port fees on U.S. vessels.

By the end of December last year, the global orderbook stood at 173.91 million CGT, an increase of 3.12 million CGT compared to the end of November. China's order backlog reached 107.48 million CGT, up 10.01 million CGT year-on-year, maintaining its leading position with a 62% market share. South Korea's order backlog stood at 35.12 million CGT, down 2.45 million CGT year-on-year, holding a 20% market share to rank second.

In December last year, newbuilding prices continued their stable trend. The Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index stood at 184.65 points, up 0.32 percentage points from November's 184.33 points and approximately 47% higher than the 125.6 points recorded five years ago during the same period.

By vessel type:

- 174,000-cubic-meter large LNG carriers remained at $248 million, unchanged from November; Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) were priced at $128 million, up $500,000 from October's $127.5 million; and 22,000-24,000 TEU Ultra Large Container Ships were priced at $262 million, down $2 million from November's $264 million.

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